By Guillermo Alvarado
The Congress of the Republic of Peru will decide tomorrow, Tuesday, whether to subject President Pedro Castillo to a process for alleged "permanent moral incapacity" to govern, which could lead to his dismissal four months after he began his work.
This is a legislative coup organized by the political right wing of the Andean nation, under the leadership of a sector of the most conservative businessmen based in Lima, the capital city, and with a strong propagandistic device set in motion by the main media.
They are, in short, the same people who in the last elections unreservedly supported the candidate Keiko Fujimori, even without being sympathizers of the daughter of the former dictator Alberto Fujimori, and who then did everything possible to prevent the rural teacher from being declared president-elect.
In this maneuver, announced since the first day of Castillo's work, three political parties are participating, including Keiko's, which total 43 deputies, out of the 52 needed to approve the process.
Analysts believe that there is a chance that they will manage to convince other right-wing legislators to go ahead with their plans and initiate the parliamentary trial, which should last about two weeks.
During that time, the accusers and the accused will present their arguments, before the final vote that must reach the favorable suffrage of 87 of the 130 deputies that form the congress to declare the vacancy, i.e. the removal of the head of state, and appoint a replacement.
It is a kind of summary execution, absurd and contradictory, based on the diffuse concept of "permanent moral incapacity", which has no exact description and means anything the opposition legislators can think of.
According to specialist Aníbal Quiroga, this is a constitutionally indeterminate legal process, absolutely subjective, and completely dependent on the opinion of the Congress, which does not need any evidentiary element to decide the removal of the ruler.
The only way to prevent it is if the executive has a very strong bench in the Legislative Body, something that does not happen in recent times and that brought down the governments of Pedro Pablo Kuczinsky and Martin Vizcarra, as well as the latter's successor, Manuel Merino, who only lasted 5 days in office.
In the long run, then, in this convoluted but supposedly "democratic" system, what matters least is the will of the people expressed in their vote, but rather the interests of the usual privileged, reluctant to give up the power that nourishes their fortunes.
